Enid Blyton

Her prolific output involved mainly escapist children's fantasy, often but not always involving the supernatural. Her books were immensely popular in Britain and Australia, and were translated into several languages, as Spanish and French. From a contemporary perspective, the books also have sometimes none-too-subtle reinforcement of Britain's class system, undoubtedly present are stereotypes of sexist behaviour, and some argue that the portrayal of golliwogs, amongst others, were racist. However, Blyton's books also managed to tap into the dreams of pre-pubertal children, offering worlds where children are free to play and explore without adult interference, more clearly than most authors before or since.

Because of these issues, as well as a tendency to imagine sexual connotations to some actions (for instance, Noddy "jumping into bed" with Big Ears, another character) clearly not intended by author, various children's libraries have removed some of Blyton's works from the shelf. Reprints of others have had changes made (such as the replacement of golliwogs with teddy bears), which has itself drawn criticism from many who view it as tampering with an important piece of the history of children's literature.